Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

DANIEL B. WESSON, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE WESSON FIRE ARMS COMPANY. l

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.'

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 72,434, dated December 17, 1867.

To all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, DANIELE. WEssoN, of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bre-ech- Loading Double Guns; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a portion of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a partial central longitudinal section of a shot-gun constructed according to my inventionfgfFig. 2, a transverse section of the same, taken in the line xmof Fig. 1, Fig. 3, a view from the rear of the barrel of the gun, disconnected from the stock thereof. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view of the cartridgeextractor of the gun.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

This invention relates more especially to that class of double-barreled breech-loading fire-arms in which the rear ends of the barrels are tilted upward to 4open the same at the breech; and it consists in certain novel means whereby the cartridge-shell extractor is operated to expel the shell from the barrels by the act of tilting the said barrels, as just mentioned, and whereby the extractor, after having thus ejected the shells, is enabled to return automatically to its place underneath the barrels.

To enable others to Vunderstand the construction and operation of my invention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

A represents the lock-frame of the arm, which is provided at its front end with a forwardly-extending bar, c, and to the rear portion of which the stock is secured in any suitable manner. The barrels B are pivoted to the front end ofthe bar a, by means of a transverse bolt, b, in such manner that the barrels may be tilted to bring their breech ends upward from the recoil-bearing c when it is required to unclose the same preparatory to loading. The aforesaid barrels are held in position, with their breech ends closed, by means of a small spring-catch, d, which holds in a notch provided in a small projection, c,

formed upon the rear ends of the barrels, as shown in Fig. 1. Provided upon the under side of the barrels, back of the transverse bolt b thereof, is a longitudinal guide, which receives the sliding extractor C, which is pressed back by a spiral spring, e, and the head f of which is so formed as to be capable of simultaneously ejecting the cartridge-shells from both barrels, such form of the aforesaid head being more fully shown in Fig. 3. The forward end of the extractoris narrowed, as shown at c', such narrow portion thereof working between two semicircular pins or studs, b.

Situated in front of the extractor, in the same guide therewith, is a slide, D, formed with a spur, g, which projects down through a slot in the under side of the aforesaid guide, and is connected by a transverse pivot, c', to one end of a bar, E, the other end of which is pivoted to the bar a of the lock-frame. ,Pivoted to the rear end of the slide D are two pushing-bars, m, the forward ends of which are made thin, as shown more fully in dotted outline in Fig. 4, in such manner as to act as springs to force inward, toward each other, the rear ends of the said pushing-bars. Such rear ends are furthermore constructed with spurs a, the inner sides of which are made inclined, as shown in Fig. 4. When the barrels are down in their places, as indicated in Fig. 1, the extractor and the parts just mentioned connected therewith occupy the position represented in Fig. 4, and when the rear ends of the barrels are tilted upward, as shown in red outline in Fig. 1, and hereinbefore described, the forward end of the pivoted bar E is raised upward, andr turning on the arc of a circle forces backward the slide D, the pushing-bars of which, acting upon the rear end of the extractor, force the same back to eject the cartridge-shells from the barrels; which being done the inclined inner surfaces of 'the spurs a of the pushing-bars aforesaid strike the studs or pins b', which are thus caused to separate the rear ends of the pushing-bars,

moving them laterally away from the end of the extractor, which is then forced back to its first position by the spring e. After reloading, the rear ends of the barrels are depressed to their rst position, and the pivoted har E pushing forward the slide D, the elastic forward end of the pushing-hars causes the rear ends thereof to spring inward behind the stem ofthe extractor to their first position. (Shown in Fig. 4.) By using a single pushing-bar instead of two, as just hereinbei'ore fully set forth, the same result will be accomplished,

but in an inferior degree.

The two percussion-locks of the arm, of which the hammers are shown at F, may be of any ordinary or appropriate construction, but are situated one upon each side of a central lock-plate formed longitudinally in the middle of the lock-frame, as shown at G, by which means a large proportion of the expense of fitting the locks to the lock-frame is saved, inp asmuch as the screw or pivots employedin, attaching corresponding parts of the two locks to the lock-plate may be placed in opposite portions of the same hole, instead of being screwed into separate lock-plates, as has hitherto been the practice.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The slide D, pushing bar or bars m, and studs b', arranged in relation with each other, and with the extractor C and pivoted bar E, substantially as and for the purpose speciied.4

D. B. VESSON.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. HALLETT, N. B. CLARKE. 

